Blog
Visualize the Direction of your Life – 2025 Positively Alive
Direct your life – 2025 Positively Alive Make time to visualize the direction of your life. Several motivating factors led me to writing this blog —of course one being we just closed out 2024 and welcomed 2025. Also I am … Continue reading
Most Effective Breathing Exercises?
Which Breathing exercises are best? The title has a ? because this blog is based on scientific data looking at what is the best breathing exercises for anxiety and stress, and also pain. While its nice to have the data, … Continue reading
Yoga and Emotions
Yoga and emotions The ancient yoga texts state the reason yoga helps us connect to our oneness is due to the inner contemplation of the practice — developing an inner awareness helps us develop a better outer awareness. Theres a … Continue reading
What is yoga truly about? And Anga Bhanga Sadhana
What is Yoga truly about? Andrew Eppler answered this well in a short 24 minute podcast titled “What is traditional Ashtanga Yoga”. I share some of his ideas and go on to more. Yoga today is mish-mash of yoga; it’s … Continue reading
Finding Flow and Awe in your daily life
Finding Flow and Awe This is a follow up to the brain wave talk and the awareness talk. Flow is when we are in that magic flow zone where we become completely absorbed by what we are doing. Fully present, … Continue reading
Brainwaves 101 revisit 2024
Brain Waves 101 Revisit 2024 Different brain waves are associated with different functions in the body. When our brain waves are slower we have more of a tendency to be creative and productive along with increased ability to rejuvenate through … Continue reading
Awareness
Awareness Awareness is what we want to develop with our practice. Before we go on, take a moment and step outside of yourself. Gaze into your thinking mind —watch yourself with your thoughts. What are you thinking? Are you here … Continue reading
What are you Thinking?
The thinking mind! Its called a monkey mind in yoga and indeed it does jump around all day long from one thought to another. We need to be more aware of what we are thinking and how our thoughts effect … Continue reading
Skin Deep is Deeper than you Think
Skin Deep is Deeper than you think When we think of skin, the outer surface is usually what comes to mind. However, skin is much more complex and vital than its external appearance suggests. Our skin is our largest organ, … Continue reading
Shat Kriyas aka Shat Karmas
Yoga’s Cleansing Techniques – Shat Kriyas – Cleansing techniques There are 6 cleansing techniques taught to yogis to help balance the body, prevent and even help to remove disease. When one does yoga and/or pranayama regularly and works with the … Continue reading
How much is enough? Intensity vs. Duration, and applying it to Ashtanga Yoga
How much is enough? Intensity vs. Duration Research and applying it to ashtanga yoga I’ve always been a proponent of shorter duration, high intensity exercise over long duration, lower intensity exercises. Lower intensity moderate duration exercise is beneficial and reduces … Continue reading
Ashtanga Yoga after 50 years old
Ashtanga Yoga after 50 years old How you approach it will depend on how long you have been practicing. First I want to address this to those of you who have been practicing over 10 years. Then I will touch … Continue reading
Resilience and Post Traumatic Growth
Resilience and Post Traumatic Growth How do you respond to trauma and challenging life situations? There is so much trauma in the world, and so much healing that needs done from it. So much now there’s a type of yoga … Continue reading
Pranayama – Difference between holding your breath after inhales vs. after exhales
Question proposed to me during a pranayama class; “What’s the difference between holding your breath after the exhale vs. after the inhale?” I did propose this questions to my pranayama teacher, his response: “It is different for different people in … Continue reading
Deep Breathing and Cellular Health
What determines your risk of disease? Your cells. Disease does not happen overnight, it takes many years for it to develop. Meaning you have to be pro-active now! I was reading about markers for diseases that appear in the body many … Continue reading
A deep dive into Water
I recently listened to Andrew Huberman’s podcast on water, and Deanna Minnich’s blog on her latest research on water. I learned some new information to share. We are anywhere from 65-90% water. How much of us is water depends on … Continue reading
Read labels, including Clothes!
Did you know polyester is made from plastic? We usually associate BPA with plastics or canned goods, but it is also in clothes made from plastic fibers such as polyester. The Center for Environmental Health is calling out 7 brands … Continue reading
Salad Dressings – NO MORE store bought sick Salad Dressings!
Salad dressings – NO MORE store bought dressings! Making your own salad dressing saves you inflammation, toxic preservatives, MSG, sugar, and a little money! Don’t ruin your healthful salad with ingredients like titanium dioxide which damages your DNA and is … Continue reading
What are Epinutrients?
EpiNutrients – Anti-aging food. Anti-aging is a popular topic today, especially among biohackers. Have you heard about epinutrients? Probably not and it’s no wonder, it’s barely talked about in research papers even though there is extensive research on them. My … Continue reading
Tratak and other Eye Exercises
Tratak and eye exercises These are fairly new to my practices. I’ve been studying pranayama with Robert Moses and he introduced a few eye exercises in his classes (mostly related to the vagus nerve), then in the Pranayama Teacher Training … Continue reading
What is Shakti?
What is Shakit? Shakti is our personal power. It is sometimes used interchangeably with prana, but shakti and prana are different. Prana is our energy or life force, shakti is feminine form of our power. Shakti empowers one with confidence, … Continue reading
Bhavana – Intension into Action
What are your intentions? I often say in my classes, what are you thinking? What are your thoughts conjuring up? Give your thoughts intention. Bhavana – intention with action A bhavana is often translated as an intention, but it is … Continue reading
The new way I’m teaching ashtanga yoga
Relaxing the rules around ashtanga and practicing for all 3 bodies~ While I love ashtanga, the system is being abused. Over the years the system has gotten abused by it being made more militant, more intense with too many rules, … Continue reading
Organs, Emotions, and your Body’s Physiology
Emotions and your body This blog is following up on years of working with people in their yoga practices with repeated bouts of pain, pain that seems to pop up for no apparent reason, or areas of their body that … Continue reading
Tuning In – Going Deeper into Interoception
Tuning in — Going deeper into interoception. Welcome to 2022 – Hoping for a more calm year? Me too! It begins with us, the calmer we can keep our mind the more we will have calm this year! We do … Continue reading
Archetypal Sitting
I’ve been saying for many years now, when you have to sit — don’t sit like a lady, sit like a yogi. Now there are studies proving the benefits of this. It has been coined “Archetypal Rest Postures”. Think we … Continue reading
Modifiable Lifestyle Risk Factors
It’s time to get beyond just masking, social distancing, vaccining, and quarantining. While helpful, these measures are by themselves proving inadequate as this infectious disease rages on. As with virtually every other disease, improving the health of the population is … Continue reading
Same thing, different language
The deeper I go into the study of the physiology of the science of the body the more I realize yoga is based on science, they are saying the same things in different languages, for example; The kundalini is the vagus … Continue reading
Mudras, Granthis, and The finishing Lotus Flowers
THE THREE CLOSING LOTUS FLOWERS I wanted to take a look at what is happening in body, mind, and physiology of the closing lotus flowers in the ashtanga practice. You learn them in your very first ashtanga class and do … Continue reading
Spice UP
Spice UP! Culinary herbs and spices have been used for flavoring, as preservative agents, and for their medical properties for centuries. Some of the widely known health effects attributed to herbs and spices include their ability to behave as antioxidants, … Continue reading
Plant Powered Sun Protection Inside & Out
Summertime Sun is not unhealthy! Many are well aware of the necessity of getting sun exposure for the important vitamin D. And now is the time to build your stores of Vitamin D, a fat soluble vitamin that stores well … Continue reading
Inter-o-ception
Yoga is about using your mind, in many different ways, even to get what you want … as long as it is for a higher good for everyone. The monkey mind as they say in yoga, or the ceaseless hamster … Continue reading
Flavanoids and Pesticides
Flavanoids and pesticides The big picture this pandemic has left us with is the importance of keeping your body resilient. Our best prevention from any contagion is our own immune system. I am going to give you a little snapshot … Continue reading
Inflammation and your Immune System ~ The good, the bad, and the ugly
Inflammation and your Immunity – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Inflammation is the tool of your immune system, or it’s the side effects of the tools your immune system uses. Inflammation is your immune system being active. Inflammation … Continue reading
Brown Fat, Fat you want!
Brown Fat, Fat You Want! Brown Adipose Tissue (aka BAT) & Beige Fat I’ve mentioned brown fat in the midst of other topics but never offered it as a topic in and of itself. With the likes of Wim Hof … Continue reading
Growing New Brain Cells
Growing New Brain Cells Your brain health is within your control. Thanks to the work of Dale Bredesen, MD and his book “The end of Alzheimer’s” and MEND protocol he has proven and documented in over 200 studies how you … Continue reading
Eating the Rainbow is not Phoo-Phoo advice
Eating the Rainbow is not phoo-phoo advice! It is sound nutritional advice. Eat the Rainbow put into perspective When I was in school with the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, one of the teachers, Deanna Minnich, PhD, IFMCP— she’s a functional … Continue reading
Exercise Bits & Kitchen Yoga
Exercise Bits and Kitchen Yoga Little bits of exercise, yoga, and movement are effective at helping to reduce effects of sitting too long. Short bits of movements that you accumulate throughout your day do make a difference in our health. … Continue reading
Heart Rate Variability, Coherence, & Resonance Breathing
Resonance breathing, Coherence, & Heart Rate Variability aka HRV What is Heart Rate Variability? A heart rate that increases on your inhales and decreases on your exhales. A heart rate of 60 or 70 BPM has a beat to beat … Continue reading
Yoga and your Vagus Nerve
Yoga and your Vagus Nerve Pay attention to how you feel after nice yoga, meditation, or breathing session. Calm. You know, the yoga high. Ahhhh. This is because you just spent about an our stimulating your vagus nerve. There are ways … Continue reading
What makes Ashtanga Yoga Ashtanga?
What makes Ashtanga Yoga Ashtanga? It’s not necessarily the sequences. While Primary, Intermediate, and Advanced series are part of ashtanga, they are not what really makes the practice ashtanga. Ashtanga means 8 limbs, and asana is only 1 of … Continue reading
Vinyasa
TOPIC OF THE MONTH FEBRUARY 2006 / September 2011 / updated again and added to blog September 2020 Vinyasa Vinyasa is the way to go Jump on back and feel the flow Upward dog and downward too Pick yourself up … Continue reading
Bandhas
TOPIC OF THE MONTH September 2020, September 2012, July 2011, May 2006, August 2004 BANDHAS a little thing that makes a big difference Most people’s journey to understand the bandhas usually starts with them being physical, and they put a … Continue reading
Pranayama – Scientific & Spiritual
Pranayama is another yoga limb of the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. Pranayama means expansion or control depending on who you ask … In my opinion it is both; it is controlling our breath to expand our prana 🙂 … Continue reading
Pandemic within a Pandemic
The Real Pandemic — and it’s Time to STOP the Fear 🙂 Yay! I had been wondering if there are foods that bind to our ACE2 receptors, and thanks to Jeffrey Bland, PhD — the founder of Functional Medicine, he … Continue reading
Viral Emergency Kit
Viral Emergency Kit Under the threat of flu and viral season — and covid, here is a list of food, herbs, and supplements I would keep on hand to help protect/prevent and treat. Here is a list of recommendations from … Continue reading
Inversions In detail.
Turning our body upside down This turned into a long topic (over 40 pages of information!) — there is a lot going on with inversions that is beyond just physically doing them (I do cover the physical aspects at the … Continue reading
What is Raising your Kundalini?
WHAT IS RAISING YOUR KUNDALINI? Envision a sleeping serpent coiled up at the base of your spine. The serpent represents ignorance, the spirit of a serpent represents rebirth, transformation, healing through the shedding of an old skin that no longer … Continue reading
Winter 2020 and your Immunity – You are NOT a sitting duck
Winter 2020 You are not a sitting Duck, you have an Immune System Update to this blog as of March 25, 2020 Maui County is now under orders to “Stay at home, work from home” until April 30th. During these … Continue reading